Monday, November 3, 2008

Boss Cross #1 - Nationals Course Preview

Another rather un-seasonably warm day here in KC and bone dry. Course featured quite a bit of elevation gain, but nothing very steep, and plenty of off-cambers turns on the way down. These will be a handfull should the course be wet in December. All the usual suspects on hand: Steve Tilford, Brian Jenson, Shadd Smith, Bill Stole, Joe Schmalz, Chris Wallace, Bill Marshall, Adam Mills, ect ect. After a couple minute delay at the start while Bill Marshall and the race referree had an entertaining discussion, we were off. I slotted in behind the Trek/HRRC train leading into the grass. Tilford, Shadd, and Brian went off the front fairly quick but the rest of us managed to stay close for a lap or 2. Eventually Jeff Winkler, Joe Schmalz, and Chris Wallace (he's about 1/3 my age) moved in front of me and kept going. I got locked into a tight battle with Bill Marshall, Nate Woodman, Andrew Coe, and Graham Aldredge, and Tom Price. Graham pulled away (he's less than 1/2 my age). I lost contact when I chain dropped going over the barriers and got nice and stuck on the wrong side of the Third Eye. I ran the same set-up for 2 years and never had this happen, but this year it's been an on-going problem. I fought back and got by Nate and Tom (with a little help from his own mechanical). I was making up some ground on Bill Marshall and Andrew Coe but the heat and effort eventually flat-lined my effort. At that point I was just trying to keep Nate behind me. I was still happy with the effort since I was able to race the whole race and never really blew up. Need to fix the chain problem. When I dismount and hop the barriers, the cranks sometimes spin backwards just a little bit. When this happens, nad the bike is at at angle, the chain rolls off the ring from the bottom and then gets down in where the inner chain ring should be. It stays on at the top where the Third Eye Chain Catcher is, but if you try to pedal it back on, the tabs on the crank arm that support the inner ring hook the chain and drag it right into the chain stay. If I grind these tabs off, that should help. How do Cat 4's get into a 1/2/3 race anyway?